


Beauty In All She Is

by DefaltManifesto



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, F/F, First Kiss, Implied Sexual Content, MTF!Fang, Pre Final Fantasy XIII, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, mtf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 02:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2050941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vanille has always done everything she could to make sure Fang was happy. Life just wouldn't make sense otherwise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beauty In All She Is

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Christina Perri's A Thousand Years. First time I've written an MTF character so here's to hoping I didn't fail horrible. Took some liberties with Pulse-culture and what not.

[The tumblr](http://schizzar.tumblr.com)

 

Fang finds her sometime after training. Vanille knows they're going to be chosen soon by the Fal'Cie. They're at the top of their class, and the Fal'Cie always picks them. She's sitting on the bridge that links Oerba to Mallida, watching the sun set and the water lap at the shores of their village. Her body aches from the constant training, and she feels drained from the constant casting of spells. Her teachers tell her that once she's a l'Cie, she'll be able to cast the spells without using as much energy.

"I need to talk to you," Fang says. He's sounding hesitant, which is new and immediately ruins the peace Vanille had been feeling.

"About what?"

"Me."

Vanille turns to look at him as he takes a seat beside her. "What's wrong?"

His spear is sitting on his lap. His fingers trace the runes and the name of their village carved into the edges. "I'm not...who you think I am."

"Fang, you're going to have to be a little more descriptive than that."

Fang gave an angry sigh, which Vanille had long ago learned meant that he wasn't angry at her, but the world in general.

"I mean, I'm not a man."

"Oh." Vanille blinks at him (her?), then turns back to the sunset. "Okay."

"That's it?"

"You're my partner. You always will be," Vanille says. "I don't care. We're in this together."

"I'm going to talk to the elders. See if they can help change...all this."

"I'll talk to them with you," Vanille says with a firm nod of her head. "Maybe I can help."

Fang doesn't say anything else. She leans against Vanille, pressing her forehead into the smaller's neck, and Vanille wraps an arm around her shoulder.

 

-.-

 

The elders do what they can. The magic works slow, especially since Fang's body has always been resistant to magic. It doesn't help that apparently it has to stay in her body over a long period of time before the changes become permanent. Vanille learns the magic alongside her other studies so that eventually, when they get chosen and head off on their own, they won't have to rely on anyone else.

 

-.-

 

Three months later, Fang joins Vanille at her usual spot on the bridge, huffing in anger. Her hair has gotten longer and it tickles Vanille's shoulders as she slumps against Vanille.

"What's wrong?" Vanille asks. She loops her arm over Fang's shoulders again and kisses her temple.

"Idiot kids," she says. "Children. All of them."

"So are we," Vanille says.

"Yeah, well apparently I'm not feminine enough," Fang says. Her tone reeks of bitterness and Vanille shoves down her immediate anger at Fang's classmates in favor of taking care of her friend first.

"I can punch them if you want," Vanille says, carefully keeping her tone pleasant.

"Yeah, that'll accomplish something," Fang says.

"What will you do then?"

"Don't know."

 

-.-

 

The next day, Fang tears up her usual robes, exposing her legs and her stomach and her shoulders. Vanille certainly doesn't mind the extra view, but she's angry about why. Fang doesn't get to find her at the bridge, because Vanille finds her outside their training area and drags her back to their shared tenant space.

"What are you doing?" Vanille demands.

"Well it shut everyone else up, so what does it matter?" Fang snaps, folding her arms across her chest, which wow, Vanille hadn't really noticed the effect the magic was having until now.

"Dressing like this...it's not you, that's my problem. They don't matter, you shouldn't have to conform to what they want," Vanille says.

Fang bows her head. "I don't know what I like to dress like. I don't...mind this."

Vanille pauses in her tirade, swallowing her surprise. "Oh...well in that case." She steps away from Fang and digs through her drawers for her sewing kit. "If you leave that fabric torn like that it will fray. And it needs a nice border. Take it off and I'll fix this one up. I'll work on the rest later."

Fang stares at Vanille, like she can't quite believe Vanille's words. Then she's tugging her robes away and tossing them at Vanille, leaving her in just her black breast band and small shorts. Vanille beams at her and takes a seat on her bunk before setting to work.

           

-.-

 

They get chosen by the Fal'Cie. No one is surprised and they pack their bags full of rations and a few changes of clothes that will easily last them half the trip to Cocoon. All of Fang's clothes have been modified by Vanille at this point, which saved on space.

"We're really going to destroy Cocoon, aren't we?" Fang asks.

"Well I hope so," Vanille says. "I'm not pouring that much work into your body just to have you turn into a Cie'th."

Fang gives a barking laugh and shoulders her pack. "Good to know you've got your priorities."

 

-.-

 

The connection between them has always been there. They soared to the top of their respective classes at the same time, and spent every waking moment together as soon as they had started training. Vanille wasn't sure why they had gravitated towards one another; they just had. Fang had always been able to see right through her and she had been able to do the same. Vanille couldn't imagine living her life alongside anyone else, as short or as eternal as it ended up being.

Vanille did not expect the growing attraction. She'd seen Fang naked before numerous times and she'd never really found her gaze lingering. Now though, out in the wild on their own, she found her gaze tracing the line of Fang's spine, the delicate shape of her hips, and the curve of her stomach up to her breasts.

After they manage to kill the two behemoths that had ambushed them in the night, Vanille tackles Fang to the ground and presses their lips together without thinking, the energy that had been boiling within her finally spilling over, unleashed by the flood of adrenaline that they'd survived. Fang kisses her back like her life depends on it and they tangle together in the long grass, gasping as they steal the breath from one another.

When they pull away, Fang smiles while Vanille blushes and Vanille realizes that it's okay for them to be together anyway they want. There's no one to stop them and given what the Fal'Cie's saddled them with, they can hardly be blamed for stealing some moments of happiness.

 

-.-

 

In between fights, they fuck. Most the time it's a lazy thing. Vanille doesn't have energy for much more, because she's pouring whatever remaining energy she has at the end of the day into the magic that keeps Fang's body the way it is.

"You don't have to do this," Fang says, pushing pink hair back from Vanille's eyes. "I worry about how hard you're pushing yourself. You might make your brand..."

Vanille's hand falls to her brand and she shakes her head. "Doesn't matter, as long as you're happy. I've spent my whole life making sure you're happy. I'm not going to stop now."

"It's my job to make sure you're happy," Fang says, and yeah that was pretty much true when they were younger. "Can't do that if you wear yourself out too much."

"Then we do our best to make each other happy," Vanille says. "I could use some unwind time. I'm sore."

Fang rolls her eyes and unrolls her bedroll. Vanille stretches out on it with a happy sigh and Fang straddles her lower back and sets to work rubbing the kinks out of Vanille's muscles. Her fingers are calloused from a lifetime wielding a spear until it became an extension of the rest of her. Eventually, Fang's fingers finish with her back and move to a more interesting location instead.

Vanille screams her pleasure to the stars and presses kisses into Fang's neck, pretending that she'll have Fang in her arms forever.

        


End file.
